Stogie Tips: Keeping Your Cool

With summer fast approaching, the temperature isn’t the only thing going up. Cigar smokers level of fear for the nasty cigar beetle increases right along with it.

While most cigar makers have taken dramatic steps in recent years to control and eliminate the voracious pests, there’s no question that they remain a potential danger. For example, one of my Stogie Guy colleagues had beetle problems with some Cubans recently, and last year our friend Chris Verhoeven wrote about his sticks coming alive.

There’s so much information, and so much misinformation, about beetles that  it’s nearly impossible to sort it all out. Suffice it to say that their eggs, laid in tobacco, may begin to hatch when the environment is very warm and moist. Once free, the little pests just start burrowing, eating, and reproducing.

So, here are some tips for keeping your cigars out of harm’s way during the hot summer:

1) Make sure you have a good digital thermometer and hygrometer. Put in a fresh battery and check the readings frequently.

2) Depending on the nature of your home, simply moving the humidor to a cellar, basement, or cool spot can do the trick. Avoid putting the box too close to an air-conditioning duct to protect the wood and the cigars.

3) A simple remedy is a coolidor (if this isn‘t familiar, just Google it and you’ll find all you ever wanted to know). You can lower the temperature cheaply with freezer packs. Some experimentation will likely be necessary to figure out how many packs you need and how long they last. Also, even though they don’t melt, they may sweat, so keep them in a container or suspended tray to remove any possibility of cigars getting damp.

4) For a more permanent solution, you can try a thermoelectric wine cooler. It’s what I use year-round here in the Sunshine State.

–George E

photo credit: StogieFresh